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Paris: First off, no worries Paris just dont like when people come at me ranting with no clear evidence to back them up. I see your point now but you also have to understand we are not dealing with the typical nba player. were dealing with Ron Artest. The same Ron Artest who obviously making nba money isnt his only want. Face it he is the Ricky Williams of the NBA. He cares about the money but to be in his hometown. in front of his family and friends. in a uniform hes dreamed about for YEARS. To be able to still pursue his other interests (rapping whatever) in a huge market like New York and make the amount he will in endorsements and jersey sales... i think hell strongly consider his options... you also have to understand EVERY GM knows his longing to play in NY. Furthermore his past history and what hell do to get his way. If you think some team with capspace that theyve been working at for years well send 10 million his way for him just to pull a Ron and complain to the media about how much he loves NY... then youre crazy. which brings me to..
knicklover: We all have our points/opinions on certain subjects and you have a very valid one in the Artest situation... but dont you see it fishy that right before deadline.. when Sacramento has said they are open to trading him... and where Isiahs offer of Jeffries & Balkman arent working.. that Artest decides to "go nutty". isnt it weird that what hes saying to the paper after two years of being good is seemingly trying to show his love for NY.. and perhaps scare off any other GM's... i just find it funny and veryyyy coincidental.

MSGKnickz33: THANK YOU! for the compliment AND the fact that you make 100% sense on the Celtic ordeal. Heres how i look at it... they dont want to sign Damon BECAUSE he might mess with chemistry... but they are willing to ship a player or two away to get Sam Cassell?!? makes absolutely no sense. I hate the celtics with a passion. so ill end it with this.. as crazy as it may seem this makes all the sense in the world to trade for Cassell.. I mean he is Garnetts friend... and well you know how McHale and Ainge are buddy buddy and hand deliver budding and aging superstars to one another.. so it makes all the sense in the world for Ainge's dumbass to make atleast one more bad move before they consider him god in Boston. Here's to Danny Ainge the TRUE worst GM in nba history!

and in regards to the Cavs/Kidd possible deal. Not aslong as Kiki is working in NJ will the Nets accept a deal where Kidd basically goes for Drew Gooden. WONT HAPPEN. but in reference to your question.. YES. it would make the Cavs weak. very weak upfront. where Drew Gooden and Z are the only two "bruisers" if you want to call Z then down low. with Varajeao out they are thin as hell to begin with.. and to trade Gooden in a package for Kidd would make them even more so.. unless Sean Williams comes too.. but i remind you to look up KiKi Vandeweghe before we ever see that as a plausable option.

also NJ will get the money to buyout Jerry Stackhouse and cover George's trade kicker.

ALSO

Earl Boykins has finally landed back in the NBA. He has signed a deal with the Charlotte Bobcats. and on a side note NJ is the frontrunner to land Stromile Swift.. while Memphis will recieve Jason Collins.. umm alright then haha

we need that ***** yo i like crazy *****s like that [no homo] and cant try the same **** he did in detriot here **** we will kill a ***** if he fight our fans is he go to denver or boston un fuk everybodu up all me happy and he will show some knicks players how to play with heart

we need an official bring Artest to NY thread. Much like Chris Rock did for Bobby Brown we need to free Ron Artest! Artest is God. that's gospel.

lol If no one starts an official bring artest to NY thread then I will tomorrow afternoon. Artest is the F*ckin man and I love his animal pitbull like mentality, hes a F*ckin animal that needs to be in a cage!!!!! Lets get Artest!!!!!!

I understand what you are saying and would consider his behavior a ploy to get traded to NY if he didn't have a history of behavior that suggests he needs professional help and doesn't understand the meaning of the word "team". The very fact that we think it's possible that he would be willing to get technical fouls and start trouble with the coach in order to accomplish his goal of getting traded is telling you that he's putting himself ahead of his team right now - a team that for the first time is healthy and still has a shot at the playoffs. That's a terrible sign by itself. It reminds me of the kind of behavior we just got rid of.

If all that doesn't convince this would be a major error (especially if we gave up one or more of our young prospects or draft picks), let's try it from another direction.

IMHO, even if the Knicks got Artest for NOTHING (which won't be the case if we get him before the trading deadline), he would not take the team to the championship next year any more that Kidd or Carter would (2 other deals I think would be a horror show). All those guys would do is make us good enough to never a get a decent draft pick and in all probability get stuck with another unmovable contract.

The Knicks are still light years away from a championship. I didn't think that was the case coming into the season because I thought there was a good chance guys like Lee, Balkman, Curry, Collins, Robinson, and Crawford were going to step up their games to a new level. Robinson has made some progress, but no one else really has. Given that reality, what we need to do now is sit out out the bad contracts, keep hoping at least one or two of these guys does develop a mid range jumper, stop eating at Burger King etc... and try to trade for expiring contracts and draft picks. It's frustrating to lose every night. But other than hoping the kids develop a little, that's what we should be rooting for. That way we'll get a good pick next year. We also aren't that far away from dumping a bunch of overpaid players and making room for a legitimate all star that doesn't come with any baggage. We need a 3-4 year plan from here and must be patient. Trading legimate young long term assets and draft picks for players already at or past their peak to turn us from a horrible team into an 7th-8th seed is a very bad idea if you are trying to win a championship.

I don't mean this to be personal because I know a lot of you guys know more about "basketball itself" than I do, but I suspect that many of you are too young to have seen what it takes to win and to build a championship team. You can't think about these things in terms of players you happen to like, the local boy, the guys you would like on the team. It takes long term planning and paying attention to intangibles.

Metro had it right the other day when he was talking about not caring about losing now, getting draft picks and expiring contracts etc... He's wrong today to want Artest, but I understand he's thinking with his heart and not his head today because he likes Artest, as do the rest of you.

I don't think Artest went "crazy". If you watch the first video that Metro has posted, to me it looks like he was just playing with heart. Man, Oakley would do those same things, but since it was Artest it's labeled as "crazy". "NO LAY-UPs". You got to love that attitude. Something this Knicks team desperately needs. BRING ARTEST TO NEW YORK!!!

Knicklover, I understand your argument. I feel the same way, but I would still love it if Artest became a Knick.

I don't see the hype in getting Artest. He's not going to bring us a championship nor even make us contenders. At best, he might bring us to the playoffs assuming his crazy personality doesn't actually hurt the team. We need to start making moves that will lead to a team dynasty winning championships. That means hitting the lottery and drafting hardworking good character guys with winning mentalities for the next couple years and getting the Knicks under the salary cap to make a run at Lebron, DWade, and Bosh.

Do you know anything about basketball? or the inner circle of the nba? I'm not coming at you like you do me BUT I'm saying look into stuff, get sources, use your brain before coming at me. When you are in a situation where you will get nothing for letting a superstar walk.. youll take the something. Sacramento wont be under the cap and no star will want to go there regardless so you take a deal where you get a big defensive minded SF on a three year contract that doesnt go higher than 6.8 million (which you says suck cause he doesnt put up stats) and young SF who has the potential to turn into a pretty good player in his own right. Along with a 2nd round pick? and you tell me they wont desperately take that? And if you dont think Ron will stick to his word and opt out then you are nuts. Ron is nuts and Ron has heart. His heart is in NY. hes been making money for the past 8 years on 3 teams he could careless about. and by the time endorsements come his way (a Knick from NY adv $$$, look at Steph for example) hell make way more than the MLE on top of Jersey sales which will be HIGH. im not gonna say YOU should go back to business school... but perhaps you should just think before you come at someone... just a thought my friend.

I see your point but part of a GM's responsibility when looking into moving players is to make sure they get anything of value for the player. So, letting Artest go for Jeffries is not something a GM would do because you would be adding his contract (4 years remaining) and if they are over the cap, Jeffires contract is almost double in price. If they were saying to add in Fred Jones contract, that would make sense because it would come of the payroll at the end of the season. Or even Jeffires, Chandler and a first round pick even if it is say top 5 protected. In reality, if the only deal for them is with the Knicks for Jeffries, Chandler and a second round pick, the Kings might be better off just letting Artest walk instead of adding 4 years of salary from a player that isn't really going to contribute anything; just ask Isiah about Malik Rose!! That is why Isiah is a bad GM; he made moves just to make moves with out any strategy involved.

valid point. i just think either JJ or Malik will be going in this deal and with the only other option Kings have been offered is Nene's huge contract or Eduardo Najera... you would think they will take JJ, Chandler and a pick. maybe thats just me tho.

UPDATES:New Jersey Nets: Will recieve Stromile Swift for Jason Collins by the end of the week. memphis is begging to get rid of him and Collins contract is only 2 years as well. Unless the Grizz get a pick of some sort this trade seems pointless for them.

Jermaine O'Neal: Will likely be out a few weeks for "sore knee". Word around the team is you will not see him in a Pacer uniform again.. strangely Jermaine was spotted in New York and New Jersey supposedly getting another doctors opinion... let the rumors begin.
Shaquille O'Neal: His record as a consecutive allstar has been broken. RIGHTFULLY. And Pat Riley has been supposedly quietly shopping the big man.

now heres a thought. if the heat are looking to get under the cap or just trade the big man in general how long do you think it is before isiah smartens up and jumps on this?.. now hear me out! i think O'Neals done as a player anyway. So basically we are looking at value here. If we trade for O'Neal, he sells a few jerseys plays for us next season for a little bit and maybe becomes a leader. thats fine and dandy but whats the point of getting him you ask? wellllll if we could somehow swing a deal where Eddy Curry (9 mill 4 years) Zach Randolph (13 mill 4 years) Renaldo Balkman (2 m) and Malik Rose (7 mill 2 years) go to the Heat for say Shaquille O'Neal (60 mill 3 years) and Ricky Davis (expiring 8 mill 1 year) with a first round pick. shouldnt we bite? im not saying thats the proposed deal but i think i would seriously contemplate that.

The Knicks do lack heart. However, they also have many other problems such as lack of chemistry and interior defense. Artest will definitely improve one of our many weaknesses which is perimeter defense but a player like Artest is more likely to lower team chemistry. If we were talking about getting Jason Kidd, then that would be a different story. He's a leader and him alone could change the culture of the team and teach them the right way to play. That's why the Mavs is willing to give up a young stud like Devin Harris for a guy reaching his 40s. Now, I'm not saying we should get Jason Kidd. The Knicks need to rebuild and it's highly unlikely (impossible) that we can get him anyways.

There's no question that Artest will make this team slightly better defensively. I don't think any one should expect him to turn water into wine, cause in reality this team needs a major overhaul and one player can't fix it all. Again, getting Artest is a leap in the right direction but not enough to please Knicks fans in a full season.

15 mentioned trading Crawford and James for Carter. This is a trade I have to disagree with. Sure Carter jerseys would sell like hotcakes and the buzz would be back at the garden but adding Carter to the roster along side Randolph, Curry and potentially Artest will only cause personality conflicts. NY's biggest problem, well one of their biggest problems is we've got a team of all shooters and scorers. Guys that need the ball to arguably be affective. I've said this before, if you take several players from the Knicks and put them in a different environment on different teams they can really flourish, but in reality all-star teams don't often work in the league. We need gritty grunt players the likes of Juwon Howard in his prime and Kurt Thomas. We need ball movement and a dedicated floor general. These should be our highest priorities.

Eddie Curry: Is he finished? I don't know. What I do know is there are players in the league that are not the best defensively but make good contributions offensively. (See Tracy McGrady or cousin Vince) Curry was one of those players before Thomas brought in Randolph. Being that Curry has zero defensive game, the shift of Randolph being more of an offensive weapon may have hindered Curry's development. The bottom line is regardless of whose fault it is or weather or not Curry can has potential or is completely useless, this front court needs to be dismantled immediately. Although Randolph is the more productive he is also the most tradable asset of the two. We've got D. Lee who has proven to be a starter. This leads me to believe we should be making a serious attempt to trade Randolph but conservatively for an expiring contract if possible.